In China, rebellion grows over Southern Weekly

In the past few days, Chinese journalists and their
supporters have launched startlingly direct opposition to Communist Party rule,
protesting a heavy-handed move by Guangdong's provincial propaganda department
to unilaterally replace
a SouthernWeekly editorial on constitutionalism with pro-Party bromides. Defying
censors' directives, media organizations around the country continue to post
messages of support of Southern Weekly
reporters who have gone on strike and called for the dismissal of provincial
propaganda chief Tuo Zhen. It is the 21st century equivalent of carrying placards
through Tiananmen Square.

Propaganda authorities have repeatedly issued directives banning
discussion of Southern Weekly, but
they are largely ignored by Internet users. Many domestic papers have used the
traditional "good night" message posted to their Weibo accounts at day's end to
speak out for Southern Weekly (which
is also known as Southern Weekend)
and press freedom. The Beijing-based Caijing,
for example, wrote: "This Weekend, don't
rest, don't say good night."

In a subtle move that was not missed by netizens, Sina News, the country's largest news portal,
posted its list of daily headlines so that the first character in each line
could be read vertically as "Keep it up, Southern Weekly!", a rallying cry for
protesters. Netizens discovered messages of resistance on other news sites. On
Monday, all media were required to repost an editorial from the Global Times condemning the protests.
Not giving in, the major news portals all posted it as required, together with
a disclaimer,
such as this one posted by Sohu: "All information from other media is reposted;
it does not represent the opinions of this website." The Weibo account of the
official People's
Daily even appeared to express implicit support for Southern Weekly, writing, "Power belongs
to the people, and the people want truth."

Dozens of people also showed up to demonstrate at the
offices of the Southern Weekly for a
second day today, international news reports said. While the
physical presence of protesters is not huge, the online defiance is in many ways
the most direct challenge to Party rule since Tiananmen. In 1989--after weeks
of protests by students, workers, and others in the square--the movement
reached a turning point when journalists working for People's Daily and other official media joined with signs
demanding, "Don't force us to lie!" People's
Daily journalists are officially employees of the Chinese state, and their
protest was a courageous and unprecedented act of resistance.

Back then, the top leadership didn't initially take a
unified position against the protesters, leaving space for domestic media to
report on the protests, which galvanized a nationwide movement. Today, a new leadership is in power amid
increasing public anger over many of the same issues that brought protesters to
the streets in 1989: corruption, privileges enjoyed by the powerful elite, and
the lack of free expression. For the first few days of protests by Southern Weekly journalists, Beijing did
not send a clear public signal to the media, giving journalists an opportunity
to spread their message through social media platforms like Weibo and other
online forums. As we saw in 1989, once information spread nationwide, the
government lost control of the message. The only way to wrest it back is by
launching a harsh crackdown, though it's unclear what form that may take.

The public dispute between Southern Weekly and Communist Party censors comes against a
backdrop of dashed hopes for looser restrictions now that Xi Jinping has been
installed as General Secretary of the Communist Party. In recent weeks, China
has announced
new requirements on Internet service providers and mobile phone companies
to identify users; blocked virtual private network (VPN) connections used to
evade the "Great Firewall;" and refused
to renew the visa of a correspondent for The New York Times, forcing him to leave the country.

The Internet has opened up worlds of information and
self-expression that didn't exist in China in 1989. Twenty-four years ago, we
saw how far the government was willing to go to maintain control. We are about
to see how far Chinese citizens will go to defend their right to speak freely.

Sophie Beach is the executive editor of China Digital Times. She is a former senior Asia research associate at the Committee to Protect Journalists and received her master's degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She is based in Berkeley, Calif.